AN OLD TRADE GRIEVANCE,

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 6, 6 July 1935, Page 12

AN OLD TRADE GRIEVANCE,

Victorian wool growers have informed buyers that, unless they agree voluntarily to abolish the draft allowance of lib in every 1121b of wool purchased, the growers will ask the State and the Federal Governments for legislation to provide that every lib of wool bought is paid for. The making of a draft allowance is an ancient practice in woolbuying, which originated when scales for weighing wool were much less accurate than they are now. One pound of wool in every 1121b was allowed to compensate for any shortage which might have occurred because of faulty weighing. Growers say that modern scales are so accurate that the reason for the draft allowance has vanished, but the practice has been established for so long that efforts to procure its abolition have been unsuccessful in every wool-producing country. ' Buyers of wool claim that, if the present system were abolished, they would have to readjust all their estimates of yields, which are the result of many years of practical experience. If they had to work to a new scale, the margin which would be added would probably be so wide that the grower would lose. The draft allowance is not the same in other countries as it is in Australia. The allowance made on British wool is 21b in 1121b, and in South Africa an allowance of 131b a bale is made to cover both tare and draft.